Hybrid management of handovers in a self organizing network (SON)

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure presents a method and an apparatus for hybrid management of handovers in a self organizing network. For example, the disclosure presents a method for transmitting, via a transmitting component at the base station, handover signaling data from the base station to a network entity, wherein the base station is one of a plurality of base stations transmitting handover signaling data to the network entity, receiving, at the base station, feedback associated with one or more handover parameters of the base station, wherein the feedback is received from the network entity and includes an indication of an amount of handover signaling data generated by the base station or the plurality of base stations, and updating the one or more handover parameters based on the feedback received and local information available at the base station. As such, hybrid management of handover in a self organizing network may be achieved.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application claims priority to Provisional Application No.61/885,390 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Distributed Optimizationof Handovers in a Self Organizing Network,” filed Oct. 1, 2013, assignedto the assignee hereof and hereby expressly incorporated by referenceherein.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, andmore particularly, to management of handovers in a self organizingnetwork (SON).

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide varioustelecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging,and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employmultiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication withmultiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth,transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access technologies includecode division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multipleaccess (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA)systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems,single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, andtime division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA)systems.

These multiple access technologies have been adopted in varioustelecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enablesdifferent wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national,regional, and even global level. An example of an emergingtelecommunication standard is Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE is a set ofenhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)mobile standard promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project(3GPP). It is designed to better support mobile broadband Internetaccess by improving spectral efficiency, lower costs, improve services,make use of new spectrum, and better integrate with other open standardsusing OFDMA on the downlink (DL), SC-FDMA on the uplink (UL), andmultiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology. However, asthe demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, thereexists a need for further improvements in LTE technology. Preferably,these improvements should be applicable to other multi-accesstechnologies and the telecommunication standards that employ thesetechnologies.

To supplement conventional base stations, additional base stations canbe deployed to provide robust wireless coverage to mobile devices. Forexample, wireless relay stations and low power base stations (e.g.,which can be commonly referred to as Home NodeBs or Home eNBs,collectively referred to as H(e)NBs, femto nodes, small cells, piconodes, etc.) can be deployed for incremental capacity growth, enhanceduser experience, in-building or other specific geographic coverage,and/or the like. Such low power base stations can be connected to theInternet via broadband connection (e.g., digital subscriber line (DSL)router, cable or other modem, etc.), which can provide the backhaul linkto the mobile operator's network. Thus, for example, the low power basestations can be deployed in user homes to provide mobile network accessto one or more devices via the broadband connection. Because deploymentof such base stations is unplanned, low power base stations caninterfere with one another where multiple stations are deployed within aclose vicinity of one another.

In a small cell self organizing network (SON), a small cell has alimited (e.g., nodal) view of the network. For example, a small cell isaware of handover signaling data (or amount of handover signaling data)that is generated at the small cell and transmitted to a network entity(e.g., Mobility Management Entity (MME), SON management server,Operations, Administration, and Management (OAM) server, Home NodeBManagement System (HMS), Home eNodeB Management System (HeMS), etc.).However, the small cell may not be aware of the handover signaling datagenerated by other small cells in the SON and transmitted to the networkentity. Therefore, the small cell lacks visibility to handover signalingload of the network at a given point in time, and may not be able toefficiently manage performance of the SON.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects inorder to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary isnot an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intendedto neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects notdelineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is topresent some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as aprelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

The present disclosure presents an example method and apparatus forhybrid management of handovers at a base station in a self organizingnetwork (SON). For example, the present disclosure presents an examplemethod for hybrid management of handovers at a base station that mayinclude transmitting, via a transmitting component at the base station,handover signaling data from the base station to a network entity,wherein the base station is one of a plurality of base stationstransmitting handover signaling data to the network entity, receiving,at the base station, feedback associated with one or more handoverparameters of the base station, wherein the feedback is received fromthe network entity and includes an indication of an amount of handoversignaling data generated by the base station or the plurality of basestations, and updating the one or more handover parameters at the basestation based on the feedback received from the network entity and localinformation available at the base station.

Additionally, the present disclosure presents an example apparatus forhybrid management of handovers at a base station in a self organizingnetwork (SON) that may include means for transmitting, via atransmitting component at the base station, handover signaling data fromthe base station to a network entity, wherein the base station is one ofa plurality of base stations transmitting handover signaling data to thenetwork entity, means for receiving, at the base station, feedbackassociated with one or more handover parameters of the base station,wherein the feedback is received from the network entity and includes anindication of an amount of handover signaling data generated by the basestation or the plurality of base stations, and means for updating theone or more handover parameters at the base station based on thefeedback received and local information available at the base station.

In a further aspect, the present disclosure presents an exampleapparatus for hybrid management of handovers at a base station in a selforganizing network (SON) that may include a handover signaling datatransmitting component to transmit handover signaling data from the basestation to a network entity, wherein the base station is one of aplurality of base stations transmitting handover signaling data to thenetwork entity, a feedback receiving component to receive, at the basestation, feedback associated with one or more handover parameters of thebase station, wherein the feedback is received from the network entityand includes an indication of an amount of handover signaling datagenerated by the base station or the plurality of base stations, and ahandover parameter updating component to update the one or more handoverparameters at the base station based on the feedback received and localinformation available at the base station.

Moreover, in an aspect, the presents disclosure presents an examplenon-transitory computer readable medium for hybrid management ofhandovers at a base station in a self organizing network (SON)comprising code that, when executed by a processor or processing systemincluded within the UE, causes the UE to transmit, via a transmittingcomponent at the base station, handover signaling data from the basestation to a network entity, wherein the base station is one of aplurality of base stations transmitting handover signaling data to thenetwork entity, receive, at the base station, feedback associated withone or more handover parameters of the base station, wherein thefeedback is received from the network entity and includes an indicationof an amount of handover signaling data generated by the base station orthe plurality of base stations, and update the one or more handoverparameters at the base station based on the feedback received and localinformation available at the base station.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or moreaspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims. The following description andthe annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative featuresof the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, ofbut a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspectsmay be employed, and this description is intended to include all suchaspects and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example wireless system inaspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating aspects of an example method inaspects of the present disclosure:

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example handover manager inaspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating aspects of a computer deviceaccording to the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of atelecommunications system;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of aNodeB in communication with a UE in a telecommunications system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appendeddrawings is intended as a description of various configurations and isnot intended to represent the only configurations in which the conceptsdescribed herein may be practiced. The detailed description includesspecific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understandingof various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that these concepts may be practiced without these specificdetails. In some instances, well known components are shown in blockdiagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

The present disclosure provides an example method and an apparatus forhybrid management of handovers at a base station in a self organizingnetwork (SON). A SON may be generally defined, for example, as anautomation mechanism designed to make planning, configuration,management, optimization and healing of mobile radio access networkssimpler and faster. For example, the example method may include updatingone or more handover parameters at a base station of a SON based onfeedback received at the base station and local information available atthe base station. A handover parameter may be generally defined as aparameter at a base station that affects the performance of handovers atthe base station. The feedback received at the base station can includean indication of an amount of handover signaling data generated by thebase station or multiple base stations.

Referring to FIG. 1, a wireless communication system 100 is illustratedthat facilitates hybrid or distributed management of handovers at a basestation in a self organizing network (SON). In an aspect, for example,system 100 may be a self organizing network that may include basestations 120 and/or 130 for providing an over-the-air service to UEs 126and/or 136 respectively. Further, base station 120 may communicate withnetwork entity 150 over the link 124 and/or base station 130 maycommunicate with network entity 150 over the link 134, respectively.Various functions may be enabled via links 124 and/or 134 such as, forexample, configuring, monitoring, managing, and/or provisioning ofservices for UEs 126 and/or 136.

In an aspect, network entity 150 may include, but may not be limited to,an access point, a base station (BS) or Node B or eNodeB, a macro cell,a small cell (e.g., a femtocell, or a pico cell), a relay, apeer-to-peer device, an authentication, authorization and accounting(AAA) server, a mobile switching center (MSC), Mobility ManagementEntity (MME), SON management server, OAM server, Home NodeB ManagementSystem (HMS), Home eNodeB Management System (HeMS), etc. Additionally,network entity 150 may include any number of suitable types of networkcomponents that can enable base stations 120 and/or 130 to communicateand/or establish and maintain links 124 and 134 with network entity 150.In an example aspect, base stations 120 and/or 130 may operate accordingto Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA),Long Term Evolution (LTE) or Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM) standard as defined in 3GPP Specifications.

In an additional aspect, UEs 126, 136 may be a mobile apparatus and mayalso be referred to by those skilled in the art as a mobile station, asubscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, aremote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wirelesscommunications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, anaccess terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remoteterminal, a handset, a terminal, a user agent, a mobile client, aclient, or some other suitable terminology.

For example, when base stations (e.g., base stations 120, 130) in a SONgenerate high amounts of handover signaling data and transmit thegenerated handover signaling data to a network entity (e.g., networkentity 150), the network entity may get overloaded or may detect anoverload condition in the network. In response to an overloadedcondition, if the network entity sends a message (e.g., broadcastmessage) to the base stations in the SON to reduce the amount ofhandover signaling data generated at the base stations, each or at leastsome of the base stations may reduce the amount of handover signalingdata generated at the respective base station (for example, by updatingtheir one or more handover parameters) and thereby address the overloadcondition of the network entity 150. However, the amount by which a basestation may decide to reduce the amount of handover signaling datagenerated by the base station may depend on the local informationavailable at that base station. For example, the local information mayinclude an amount of handover signaling data generated at the basestation, a handover rate at the base station, a number of users servedat the base station, mobility performance of user equipments (UEs)served by the base station, radio link failures at the base station,velocity of UEs served by the base station, and a transmit power of thebase station.

Consequently, a mechanism where base stations can react to a networkoverload condition by reducing handover signaling data generated by thebase stations themselves is desired. In the absence of such a mechanism,various entities in a network (for example, network entity 150) may haveto be scaled to handle higher amount of handover signaling data, whichmay result in underutilization of resources, for example, at the networkentity. Therefore, a mechanism is needed to manage the handoversignaling data generated at the base stations and/or the network entitywhile addressing the utilization of the resources.

In an aspect, base station 120 may include a handover manager 122(and/or base station 130 may include a handover manager 132) for hybridmanagement of handovers at a base station in a self organizing network(SON) by transmitting, via a transmitting component at the base station,handover signaling data from the base station to a network entity,wherein the base station is one of multiple base stations transmittinghandover signaling data to the network entity, receiving feedback, fromthe network entity, where the feedback received at the base stationincludes an indication of an amount of handover signaling data generatedby the base station or the plurality of base stations, and updating theone or more handover parameters at the base station based on thefeedback received from the network entity and local informationavailable at the base station.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example methodology 200 for hybrid management ofhandovers at a base station in a SON.

In an aspect, at block 202, methodology 200 may include transmittinghandover signaling data from the base station to a network entity. Forexample, in an aspect, base station 120 and/or handover manager 122 mayinclude a specially programmed processor module, or a processorexecuting specially programmed code stored in a memory, to transmithandover signaling data from base station 120 to network entity 150.

In an aspect, base stations 120 and/or 130 may generate handoversignaling data at the base station and transmit the generated handoversignaling data to network entity 150. For example, in an aspect, networkentity 150 may be a mobile management entity (MME). As used herein, aMME is generally responsible for idle mode user equipment (UE) pagingand tagging procedure including retransmissions. The MME may also beinvolved in bearer activation/deactivation process, choosing a servinggateway (SGW) for a UE at the initial attach and at time of intra-LTEhandover involving core network (CN) node relocation, and/or inauthenticating a user.

For example, handover signaling data may be generated at base station120 when a UE, e.g., UE 126 camps on base station 120 or when basestation 120 is involved in a handover (e.g., when UE 126 moves from basestation 120 to base station 130 or when UE 136 moves from base station130 to base station 120). In an aspect, base station 120 may transmithandover signaling data in the form of a report (e.g., operationsmeasurement (OM) data) on a continuous/ongoing basis or at periodicintervals. In an additional or optional aspect, the amount of handoversignaling data generated by base station 120 may be based on, e.g.,number of UEs served by base station 120, number of handovers beingperformed by base station 120, etc.

As network entity 150 may receive handover signaling data from aplurality of base stations (e.g., base station 120 and/or 130) connectedto network entity 150, network entity 150 may develop a system levelview of the handover signaling data that is different from a nodal levelview of handover signaling data available at each of the base stations.For example, base station 120 may have a nodal level view of handoversignaling data of base station 120 based on the handover signalinginformation generated at base station 120. However, base station 120 maynot have a system level view of the handover signaling data as basestation 120 may not have access/view of the handover signaling datagenerated at/by other base stations (e.g., base station 130) in the SON.

In an additional aspect, handover signaling data at a base station maybe determined based on at least one or more procedures occurring at thebase station. For example, in an aspect, handover signaling data at basestation 120 may be determined based at least on one or more of ahandover preparation procedure, a handover resource allocationprocedure, a handover notification procedure, a path switch requestprocedure, a handover cancel procedure, and a serial number (SN) statustransfer procedure. These procedures are generally defined in TS 36.413and/or TS 36.423 of 3GPP Specifications.

In an aspect, at block 204, methodology 200 may include receiving, atthe base station, feedback associated with one or more handoverparameters of the base station. For example, in an aspect, base station120 and/or handover manager 122 may include a specially programmedprocessor module, or a processor executing specially programmed codestored in a memory, to receive at base station 120 feedback associatedwith one or more handover parameters of base station 120.

For example, as described above, base stations 120 and/or 130 maytransmit handover signaling data generated by base stations 120 and/or130 to network entity 150, and the network entity can develop (or build)a system level view of handover signaling data based on the handoversignaling data received from the base stations. In an aspect, when oneor more base stations (e.g., 120 and/or 130) connected to network entity150 generate high amounts of handover signaling data and transmit thegenerated handover signaling data to network entity 150, network entity150 may get overloaded. For example, in an aspect, if the handoversignaling data received from the base stations in the SON at networkentity 150 is above a given capacity (e.g., above a threshold value thatmay be configured by an operator of the SON), it may affect theperformance of the SON such as components of the SON including, forexample, network entity 150, base stations 120 and/or 130, and/or UEsconnected to base stations 120 and/or 130.

For example, in an aspect, network entity 150 may monitor the handoversignaling data received from the base stations in the SON and mayprovide feedback to some or all of the base stations indicating whetherone or more base stations in the SON have to reduce the amount of thehandover signaling data generated at a base station (for example, if theamount of handover signaling data generated at a particular base stationis above the first threshold value) and/or whether one or more basestations may increase the amount of the handover signaling datagenerated at a base station (for example, if the amount of handoversignaling data generated at a particular base station is below the firstthreshold value).

For example, in an aspect, handover signaling data that may be allowed(e.g., or desired) to be generated at a base station (e.g., base station120) may be calculated at network entity 150 based on capacity of thenetwork entity 150 (e.g., capacity of MME) divided by the number of basestations in the SON supported by network entity 150. For example, if thecapacity (e.g., signaling load capacity) of network entity 150 is “X”and “N” is number of base stations supported by network entity 150, athreshold value (e.g., a first threshold value) for handover signalingdata that may be generated by each base station in the SON is “X/N.”However, if the handover signaling data generated by a base station(e.g., base station 120) is higher than the threshold value (e.g., firstthreshold value), the base station may be considered to be in an overloaded condition. In an additional or optional aspect, if the handoversignaling load generated by a base station (e.g., base station 120) islower than the threshold value (e.g., first threshold value), the basestation may be considered to be in an under loaded condition. In anaspect, some base stations of the SON may be generating handoversignaling data at a rate higher than the threshold value and/or somebase stations may be generating handover signaling data at a rate lowerthan the threshold value.

In an additional or optional aspect, a base station may be allowed togenerate signaling load above the threshold value of X/N (e.g., firstthreshold value), if one or more other base stations are generatinghandover signaling data at a rate that is lower than the first thresholdvalue.

In an additional aspect, base station 120 and/or handover manager 122may receive an indication on whether network entity 150 is receivinghandover signaling data (e.g., from the base stations in the SON) at arate that is higher or lower than a threshold value (e.g., secondthreshold value), wherein the threshold value is calculated at thenetwork entity based at least on a capacity of the network entity. Forexample, in an aspect, base station 120 and/or handover manager 122 mayreceive an indication from network entity 150 indicating whether networkentity 150 is receiving handover signaling data from the base stationsin the SON (e.g., cumulative handover signaling data) at a rate which ishigher or lower than the capacity (e.g., handover signaling capacity) ofnetwork entity 150. This information may be used by base station 120 formodifying one or more handover related parameters at the base station.

In an aspect, at block 206, methodology 200 may include updating the oneor more handover related parameters at the base station based on thefeedback received and local information available at the base station.For example, in an aspect, base station 120 and/or handover manager 122may include a specially programmed processor module, or a processorexecuting specially programmed code stored in a memory, to update theone or more handover related parameters at base station 120 based on thefeedback received and local information available at base station 120.

In an aspect, base station 120 and/or handover manager 122 may updatethe one or more handover related parameters to increase or decrease thehandover signaling data generated at the base station based on thefeedback received from the network entity. For example, in an aspect,handover manager 122 may decrease the handover signaling data generatedat base station 120 if base station 120 and/or handover manager 122receives indication from network entity 150 that the base station isgenerating handover signaling data at a rate which is higher than thefirst threshold value and/or that network entity 150 is receivinghandover signaling data at a rate which is higher than a secondthreshold value. In these scenarios, the base station can update the oneor more parameters at the base station based on either or both theindications received at the base station (e.g., as a hybrid handovermanagement mechanism). For example, in an aspect, the base station mayservice a UE (e.g., UE 126) for longer than normal to reduce the amountof handover signaling data generated at the base station (e.g., basestation 120).

In an additional aspect, base station 120 and/or handover manager 122may update the one or more handover parameters at base station 120 basedon additional local information available at the base station. Forexample, the local information available at the base station may includehandover signaling data generated at the base station, handover rate atthe base station, number of users served at the base station, mobilityperformance of user equipments (UE) served by the base station, radiolink failures at the base station, and velocity of UEs served by thebase station.

In an additional aspect, base station 120 and/or handover manager 122may update one or more of a hysteresis parameter, a time-to-trigger(TTT) parameter, a filter coefficient, an event offset parameter, a cellindividual offset (CIO) parameter, a reporting range parameter, and afrequency offset parameter based on the feedback received from thenetwork entity and local information available at the base station. Forexample, in an aspect, base station 120 and/or handover manager 122 mayupdate one or more of hysteresis parameter, time-to-trigger (TTT)parameter, filter coefficient, an event offset parameter, cellindividual offset (CIO) parameter, a reporting range parameter, andfrequency offset parameter at base station 120 based on feedbackreceived from network entity 150 and local information available at basestation 120 (e.g., base station 120 is generating handover signalingdata at a rate above the first threshold value and network entity isreceiving handover signaling data above the second threshold value).These parameters are generally defined in TS 36.331 and 25.331 of 3GPPSpecifications. For example, base station may increase TTT parameter tokeep UE 126 on base station 120 longer to reduce the handover signalingdata at the base station.

In an additional or optional aspect, base station 120 and/or handovermanager 122 may initiate a handover from a first base station on a firstlayer to a second base station on a second layer to handover a UE thatis generating handover signaling data at a rate higher than a thresholdvalue (e.g., third threshold value) on the first layer. For example, inan aspect, base station 120 and/or handover manager 122 may initiate ahandover from base station 120 (e.g., base station 120 may be a smallcell) to base station 130 (e.g., base station 130 may be a macro cell)when base station 130 generates handover signaling data at a rate thatis higher than the handover signaling data rate allowed for the firstlayer (e.g., small cell layer). In a further additional aspect, basestation 120 and/or handover manager 122 may initiate a handover frombase station 120 (e.g., with frequency “F1”) to base station 120 (e.g.,with “F2”) when base station 120 generates handover signaling data at arate that is higher than the handover signaling data rate allowed forbase station 120. In an additional aspect, handover from first layer tothe second layer may be triggered based on an indication from thenetwork entity and generation of handover signaling data above the thirdthreshold value at the base station.

As described above, hybrid management of handovers at a base station ina SON may be achieved.

Referring to FIG. 3, illustrated are a handover manager 122 and varioussub-components for hybrid management of handover at a base station. Inan example aspect, handover manager 122 may be configured to include thespecially programmed processor module, or the processor executingspecially programmed code stored in a memory, in the form of a handoversignaling data transmitting component 302, a feedback receivingcomponent 304, and/or a handover parameter updating component 306. In anaspect, a component may be one of the parts that make up a system, maybe hardware or software, and may be divided into other components.

In an aspect, handover manager 122 and/or handover signaling datatransmitting component 302 may be configured to transmit, via atransmitting component at the base station, handover signaling data fromthe base station to a network entity. For example, in an aspect,handover signaling data transmitting component 302 may be configured totransmit handover signaling data from base station 120 to network entity150. In an additional aspect, base station 120 may be one of a pluralityof base stations that are transmitting handover signaling data tonetwork entity 150.

In an aspect, handover manager 122 and/or feedback receiving component304 may be configured to receiving feedback, from the network entity,associated with one or more handover parameters of the base station. Forexample, in an aspect, feedback receiving component 304 may beconfigured to receive feedback from network entity 150. In an additionalaspect, the feedback received at base station 120 can include anindication of an amount of handover signaling data generated by the basestation (e.g., 120) or the plurality of base stations (e.g., 120 and130).

In an aspect, handover manager 122 and/or handover parameter updatingcomponent 306 may be configured to update the one or more handoverparameters at the base station based on the feedback received from thenetwork entity and local information available at the base station. Forexample, in an aspect, handover parameter updating component 306 may beconfigured to update the one or more handover parameters at base station120 based on the feedback received from network entity 150 and localinformation available at base station 150.

Referring to FIG. 4, in an aspect, base station 120, for example,including handover manager 122 may be or may include a speciallyprogrammed or configured computer device. In one aspect ofimplementation, base station 120 may include handover manager 104 andits sub-components, including a handover signaling data transmittingcomponent 302, a feedback receiving component 304, and/or a handoverparameter updating component 306 (FIG. 3), such as in speciallyprogrammed computer readable instructions or code, firmware, hardware,or some combination thereof.

In an aspect, for example as represented by the dashed lines, handovermanager 122 may be implemented or executed using one or any combinationof processor 402, memory 404, communications component 406, and datastore 408. For example, handover manager 122 may be defined or otherwiseprogrammed as one or more processor modules of processor 402. Further,for example, handover manager 122 may be defined as a computer-readablemedium stored in memory 404 and/or data store 408 and executed byprocessor 402. Moreover, for example, inputs and outputs relating tooperations of handover manager 122 may be provided or supported bycommunications component 406, which may provide a bus between thecomponents of computer device 400 or an interface to communication withexternal devices or components.

Base station 120 may include a processor 402 specially configured tocarry out processing functions associated with one or more of componentsand functions described herein. Processor 402 can include a single ormultiple set of processors or multi-core processors. Moreover, processor402 can be implemented as an integrated processing system and/or adistributed processing system.

Base station 120 further includes a memory 404, such as for storing dataused herein and/or local versions of applications and/or instructions orcode being executed by processor 402, such as to perform the respectivefunctions of the respective entities described herein. Memory 404 caninclude any type of memory usable by a computer, such as random accessmemory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), tapes, magnetic discs, opticaldiscs, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and any combinationthereof.

Further, Base station 120 includes a communications component 406 thatprovides for establishing and maintaining communications with one ormore parties utilizing hardware, software, and services as describedherein. Communications component 406 may carry communications betweencomponents on Base station 120, as well as between user and externaldevices, such as devices located across a communications network and/ordevices serially or locally connected to Base station 120. For example,communications component 406 may include one or more buses, and mayfurther include transmit chain components and receive chain componentsassociated with a transmitter and receiver, respectively, or atransceiver, operable for interfacing with external devices.

Additionally, Base station 120 may further include a data store 408,which can be any suitable combination of hardware and/or software, thatprovides for mass storage of information, databases, and programsemployed in connection with aspects described herein. For example, datastore 408 may be a data repository for applications not currently beingexecuted by processor 402.

Base station 120 may additionally include a user interface component 410operable to receive inputs from a user of Base station 120, and furtheroperable to generate outputs for presentation to the user. Userinterface component 410 may include one or more input devices, includingbut not limited to a keyboard, a number pad, a mouse, a touch-sensitivedisplay, a navigation key, a function key, a microphone, a voicerecognition component, any other mechanism capable of receiving an inputfrom a user, or any combination thereof. Further, user interfacecomponent 410 may include one or more output devices, including but notlimited to a display, a speaker, a haptic feedback mechanism, a printer,any other mechanism capable of presenting an output to a user, or anycombination thereof.

The various concepts presented throughout this disclosure may beimplemented across a broad variety of telecommunication systems, networkarchitectures, and communication standards.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a long term evolution (LTE) networkarchitecture 500 employing various apparatuses of wireless communicationsystem 100 (FIG. 1) and may include one or more base stations (e.g.,base stations 120 and/or 130) configured to include a handover manager122 (FIG. 1). The LTE network architecture 500 may be referred to as anEvolved Packet System (EPS) 500. EPS 500 may include one or more userequipment (UE) 502 (e.g., UEs 126 and/or 136), an Evolved UMTSTerrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) 504, an Evolved Packet Core(EPC) 560, a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 520, and an Operator's IPServices 522. The EPS can interconnect with other access networks, butfor simplicity those entities/interfaces are not shown. As shown, theEPS provides packet-switched services, however, as those skilled in theart will readily appreciate, the various concepts presented throughoutthis disclosure may be extended to networks providing circuit-switchedservices.

The E-UTRAN includes the evolved Node B (eNB) 506 and other eNBs 508.The eNB 506 provides user and control plane protocol terminations towardthe UE 502. The eNB 506 may be connected to the other eNBs 508 via an X2interface (i.e., backhaul). The eNB 506 may also be referred to by thoseskilled in the art as a base station, a base transceiver station, aradio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basicservice set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), or some other suitableterminology. The eNB 506 provides an access point to the EPC 560 for aUE 502. Examples of UEs 502 include a cellular phone, a smart phone, asession initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system, amultimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3player), a camera, a game console, or any other similar functioningdevice. The UE 502 may also be referred to by those skilled in the artas a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriberunit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wirelessdevice, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobilesubscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wirelessterminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, aclient, or some other suitable terminology.

The eNB 506 is connected by an SI interface to the EPC 560. The EPC 560includes a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 562, other MMEs 564, aServing Gateway 566, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 568. TheMME 562 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UE502 and the EPC 510. Generally, the MME 512 provides bearer andconnection management. All user IP packets are transferred through theServing Gateway 566, which itself is connected to the PDN Gateway 568.The PDN Gateway 568 provides UE IP address allocation as well as otherfunctions. The PDN Gateway 568 is connected to the Operator's IPServices 522. The Operator's IP Services 522 include the Internet, theIntranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), and a PS Streaming Service(PSS).

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a NodeB 610 in communication with a UE 650,where the UE 650 may be the same as or similar to UE 126 and/or 136 ofFIG. 1, and where the NodeB 610 may be the same as or similar to basestation 120 and/or 130 of FIG. 1, in that it is configured to includehandover manager 122 (FIG. 1), for hybrid management of handovers, incontroller/processor 690 and/or memory 692. In the downlinkcommunication, a transmit processor 620 may receive data from a datasource 612 and control signals from a controller/processor 640. Thetransmit processor 620 provides various signal processing functions forthe data and control signals, as well as reference signals (e.g., pilotsignals). For example, the transmit processor 620 may provide cyclicredundancy check (CRC) codes for error detection, coding andinterleaving to facilitate forward error correction (FEC), mapping tosignal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binaryphase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK),M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM),and the like), spreading with orthogonal variable spreading factors(OVSF), and multiplying with scrambling codes to produce a series ofsymbols. Channel estimates from a channel processor 644 may be used by acontroller/processor 640 to determine the coding, modulation, spreading,and/or scrambling schemes for the transmit processor 620. These channelestimates may be derived from a reference signal transmitted by the UE650 or from feedback from the UE 650. The symbols generated by thetransmit processor 620 are provided to a transmit frame processor 630 tocreate a frame structure. The transmit frame processor 630 creates thisframe structure by multiplexing the symbols with information from thecontroller/processor 640, resulting in a series of frames. The framesare then provided to a transmitter 632, which provides various signalconditioning functions including amplifying, filtering, and modulatingthe frames onto a carrier for downlink transmission over the wirelessmedium through antenna 634. The antenna 634 may include one or moreantennas, for example, including beam steering bidirectional adaptiveantenna arrays or other similar beam technologies.

At the UE 650, a receiver 654 receives the downlink transmission throughan antenna 652 and processes the transmission to recover the informationmodulated onto the carrier. The information recovered by the receiver654 is provided to a receive frame processor 660, which parses eachframe, and provides information from the frames to a channel processor694 and the data, control, and reference signals to a receive processor670. The receive processor 670 then performs the inverse of theprocessing performed by the transmit processor 620 in the NodeB 610.More specifically, the receive processor 670 descrambles and de-spreadsthe symbols, and then determines the most likely signal constellationpoints transmitted by the NodeB 610 based on the modulation scheme.These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by thechannel processor 694. The soft decisions are then decoded andde-interleaved to recover the data, control, and reference signals. TheCRC codes are then checked to determine whether the frames weresuccessfully decoded. The data carried by the successfully decodedframes will then be provided to a data sink 672, which representsapplications running in the UE 650 and/or various user interfaces (e.g.,display). Control signals carried by successfully decoded frames will beprovided to a controller/processor 690. When frames are unsuccessfullydecoded by the receive processor 670, the controller/processor 690 mayalso use an acknowledgement (ACK) and/or negative acknowledgement (NACK)protocol to support retransmission requests for those frames.

In the uplink, data from a data source 678 and control signals from thecontroller/processor 690 are provided to a transmit processor 680. Thedata source 678 may represent applications running in the UE 650 andvarious user interfaces (e.g., keyboard). Similar to the functionalitydescribed in connection with the downlink transmission by the NodeB 610,the transmit processor 680 provides various signal processing functionsincluding CRC codes, coding and interleaving to facilitate FEC, mappingto signal constellations, spreading with OVSFs, and scrambling toproduce a series of symbols. Channel estimates, derived by the channelprocessor 694 from a reference signal transmitted by the NodeB 610 orfrom feedback contained in the midamble transmitted by the NodeB 610,may be used to select the appropriate coding, modulation, spreading,and/or scrambling schemes. The symbols produced by the transmitprocessor 680 will be provided to a transmit frame processor 682 tocreate a frame structure. The transmit frame processor 682 creates thisframe structure by multiplexing the symbols with information from thecontroller/processor 690, resulting in a series of frames. The framesare then provided to a transmitter 656, which provides various signalconditioning functions including amplification, filtering, andmodulating the frames onto a carrier for uplink transmission over thewireless medium through the antenna 652.

The uplink transmission is processed at the NodeB 610 in a mannersimilar to that described in connection with the receiver function atthe UE 650. A receiver 635 receives the uplink transmission through theantenna 634 and processes the transmission to recover the informationmodulated onto the carrier. The information recovered by the receiver635 is provided to a receive frame processor 636, which parses eachframe, and provides information from the frames to the channel processor644 and the data, control, and reference signals to a receive processor638. The receive processor 638 performs the inverse of the processingperformed by the transmit processor 680 in the UE 650. The data andcontrol signals carried by the successfully decoded frames may then beprovided to a data sink 639 and the controller/processor, respectively.If some of the frames were unsuccessfully decoded by the receiveprocessor, the controller/processor 640 may also use an acknowledgement(ACK) and/or negative acknowledgement (NACK) protocol to supportretransmission requests for those frames.

The controller/processors 640 and 690 may be used to direct theoperation at the NodeB 610 and the UE 650, respectively. For example,the controller/processors 640 and 690 may provide various functionsincluding timing, peripheral interfaces, voltage regulation, powermanagement, and other control functions. The computer readable media ofmemories 642 and 692 may store data and software for the NodeB 610 andthe UE 650, respectively. A scheduler/processor 646 at the NodeB 610 maybe used to allocate resources to the UEs and schedule downlink and/oruplink transmissions for the UEs.

Several aspects of a telecommunications system have been presented withreference to a W-CDMA system. As those skilled in the art will readilyappreciate, various aspects described throughout this disclosure may beextended to other telecommunication systems, network architectures andcommunication standards.

By way of example, various aspects may be extended to other UMTS systemssuch as TD-SCDMA, High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High SpeedUplink Packet Access (HSUPA), High Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) andTD-CDMA. Various aspects may also be extended to systems employing LongTerm Evolution (LTE) (in FDD, TDD, or both modes), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A)(in FDD, TDD, or both modes), CDMA2000, Evolution-Data Optimized(EV-DO), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16(WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth, and/or othersuitable systems. The actual telecommunication standard, networkarchitecture, and/or communication standard employed will depend on thespecific application and the overall design constraints imposed on thesystem.

In accordance with various aspects of the disclosure, an element, or anyportion of an element, or any combination of elements may be implementedwith a “processing system” that includes one or more processors.Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers,digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic,discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured toperform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure.One or more processors in the processing system may execute software.Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instructionsets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, softwaremodules, applications, software applications, software packages,routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution,procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware,middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. Thesoftware may reside on a computer-readable medium. The computer-readablemedium may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium includes, by way of example, amagnetic storage device (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strip),an optical disk (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD)),a smart card, a flash memory device (e.g., card, stick, key drive),random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM(PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), aregister, a removable disk, and any other suitable medium for storingsoftware and/or instructions that may be accessed and read by acomputer. The computer-readable medium may also include, by way ofexample, a carrier wave, a transmission line, and any other suitablemedium for transmitting software and/or instructions that may beaccessed and read by a computer. The computer-readable medium may beresident in the processing system, external to the processing system, ordistributed across multiple entities including the processing system.The computer-readable medium may be embodied in a computer-programproduct. By way of example, a computer-program product may include acomputer-readable medium in packaging materials. Those skilled in theart will recognize how best to implement the described functionalitypresented throughout this disclosure depending on the particularapplication and the overall design constraints imposed on the overallsystem.

It is to be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps inthe methods disclosed is an illustration of exemplary processes. Basedupon design preferences, it is understood that the specific order orhierarchy of steps in the methods may be rearranged. The accompanyingmethod claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order,and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchypresented unless specifically recited therein.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in theart to practice the various aspects described herein. Variousmodifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied toother aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to theaspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistentwith the language of the claims, wherein reference to an element in thesingular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specificallyso stated, but rather “one or more.” Unless specifically statedotherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. A phrase referring to“at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of thoseitems, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b,or c” is intended to cover: a; b; c; a and b; a and c; b and c; and a, band c. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of thevarious aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known orlater come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art areexpressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to beencompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein isintended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether suchdisclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is tobe construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 112, sixth paragraph,unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or,in the case of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase“step for.”

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for hybrid management of handovers at abase station in a self organizing network (SON), comprising:transmitting, via a transmitting component at the base station, handoversignaling data from the base station to a network entity, wherein thebase station is one of a plurality of base stations transmittinghandover signaling data to the network entity, and wherein the networkentity is a mobility management entity or a serving gateway (SGW);receiving, at the base station, feedback associated with one or morehandover parameters of the base station, wherein the feedback includes afirst indication and a second indication, the first indicationindicating whether the network entity is receiving cumulative handoversignaling data from the plurality of base stations at a first rate whichis higher or lower than a cumulative handover signaling capacity valueof the network entity, and the second indication indicating whether thebase station is generating the handover signaling data at a second ratewhich is higher or lower than a per-base station handover signalingcapacity value of the network entity that is calculated at least in partbased on a signaling load capacity of the network entity and a number ofbase stations in the SON supported by the network entity; and updatingthe one or more handover parameters at the base station based on thefeedback received and local information available at the base station.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the local information available at thebase station is based on at least one of an amount of handover signalingdata generated at the base station, a handover rate at the base station,a number of users served at the base station, mobility performance ofuser equipments (UEs) served by the base station, radio link failures atthe base station, velocity of UEs served by the base station, a transmitpower of the base station, and combinations thereof.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: determining the local information availableat the base station.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the updating ofthe one or more handover parameters at the base station comprises:updating at least one of a hysteresis parameter, a time-to-trigger (TTT)parameter, a filter coefficient, an event offset parameter, a cellindividual offset (CIO) parameter, a reporting range parameter, afrequency offset parameter at the base station, and combinationsthereof.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining thehandover signaling data at the base station based on at least one of ahandover preparation procedure, a handover resource allocationprocedure, a handover notification procedure, a path switch requestprocedure, a handover cancel procedure, a serial number (SN) statustransfer procedure, and combinations thereof.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the updating of the one or more handover parameters at the basestation comprises: initiating a handover from a first base station on afirst layer to a second base station on a second layer to migrate a userequipment (UE) that is generating signaling at a third rate higher thana layer threshold value on the first layer, wherein the layer thresholdvalue is determined at the base station.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein the first and the second base stations are different types ofbase stations or configured with different frequencies.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: reducing or increasing an amount of thehandover signaling data transmitted from the base station to the networkentity in response to the updating of the one or more handoverparameters based on the feedback.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst indication indicates the first rate is lower than the cumulativehandover signaling capacity value of the network entity, and the secondindication indicates that the second rate is higher than the per-basestation handover signaling capacity value of the network entity, andfurther comprising: reducing an amount of the handover signaling datafrom the base station to the network entity in response to the updatingof the one or more handover parameters.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the first indication indicates the first rate is higher than thecumulative handover signaling capacity value of the network entity, andthe second indication indicates that the second rate is lower than theper-base station handover signaling capacity value of the networkentity, and further comprising: reducing an amount of the handoversignaling data from the base station to the network entity in responseto the updating of the one or more handover parameters.
 11. The methodof claim 1, wherein the first indication indicates the first rate ishigher than the cumulative handover signaling capacity value of thenetwork entity, and the second indication indicates that the second rateis higher than the per-base station handover signaling capacity value ofthe network entity, and further comprising: reducing an amount of thehandover signaling data from the base station to the network entity inresponse to the updating of the one or more handover parameters.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first indication indicates the first rateis lower than the cumulative handover signaling capacity value of thenetwork entity, and the second indication indicates that the second rateis lower than the per-base station handover signaling capacity value ofthe network entity, and further comprising: increasing an amount of thehandover signaling data from the base station to the network entity inresponse to the updating of the one or more handover parameters.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the second indication indicates that thesecond rate is higher than the per-base station handover signalingcapacity value of the network entity, and further comprising: allowingan amount of the handover signaling data from the base station to thenetwork entity to be at the second rate in response to the first rateand based on the updating of the one or more handover parameters.
 14. Anapparatus for hybrid management of handovers at a base station in a selforganizing network (SON), comprising: means for transmitting, via atransmitting component at the base station, handover signaling data fromthe base station to a network entity, wherein the base station is one ofa plurality of base stations transmitting handover signaling data to thenetwork entity, and wherein the network entity is a mobility managemententity or a serving gateway (SGW); means for receiving, at the basestation, feedback associated with one or more handover parameters of thebase station, wherein the feedback includes a first indication and asecond indication, the first indication indicating whether the networkentity is receiving cumulative handover signaling data from theplurality of base stations at a first rate which is higher or lower thana cumulative handover signaling capacity value of the network entity,and the second indication indicating whether the base station isgenerating the handover signaling data at a second rate which is higheror lower than a per-base station handover signaling capacity value ofthe network entity that is calculated at least in part based on asignaling load capacity of the network entity and a number of basestations in the SON supported by the network entity; and means forupdating the one or more handover parameters at the base station basedon the feedback received and local information available at the basestation.
 15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the local informationavailable at the base station is based on at least one of an amount ofhandover signaling data generated at the base station, a handover rateat the base station, a number of users served at the base station, amobility performance of user equipments (UEs) served by the basestation, radio link failures at the base station, velocity of UEs servedby the base station, a transmit power of the base station, andcombinations thereof.
 16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein means forupdating the one or more handover parameters at the base stationcomprises: means for updating at least one of a hysteresis parameter, atime-to-trigger (TTT) parameter, a filter coefficient, an event offsetparameter, a cell individual offset (CIO) parameter, a reporting rangeparameter, a frequency offset parameter at the base station, andcombinations thereof.
 17. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:means for determining the handover signaling data at the base stationbased on at least one of a handover preparation procedure, a handoverresource allocation procedure, a handover notification procedure, a pathswitch request procedure, a handover cancel procedure, a serial number(SN) status transfer procedure, and combinations thereof.
 18. Theapparatus of claim 14, further comprising: means for initiating ahandover from a first base station on a first layer to a second basestation on a second layer to migrate a user equipment (UE) that isgenerating signaling at a third rate higher than a layer threshold valueon the first layer, wherein the layer threshold value is determined atthe base station.
 19. An apparatus for hybrid management of handovers ata base station in a self organizing network (SON), comprising: ahandover signaling data transmitting component to transmit handoversignaling data from the base station to a network entity, wherein thebase station is one of a plurality of base stations transmittinghandover signaling data to the network entity, and wherein the networkentity is a mobility management entity or a serving gateway (SGW); afeedback receiving component to receive, at the base station, feedbackassociated with one or more handover parameters of the base station,wherein the feedback associated with one or more handover parameters ofthe base station, wherein the feedback includes a first indication and asecond indication, the first indication indicating whether the networkentity is receiving cumulative handover signaling data from theplurality of base stations at a first rate which is higher or lower thana cumulative handover signaling capacity value of the network entity,and the second indication indicating whether the base station isgenerating the handover signaling data at a second rate which is higheror lower than a per-base station handover signaling capacity value ofthe network entity that is calculated at least in part based on asignaling load capacity of the network entity and a number of basestations in the SON supported by the network entity; and a handoverparameter updating component to update the one or more handoverparameters at the base station based on the feedback received and localinformation available at the base station.
 20. The apparatus of claim19, wherein the handover parameter updating component is furtherconfigured to update the one or more handover parameters at the basestation based on at least one of an amount of handover signaling datagenerated at the base station, a handover rate at the base station, anumber of users served at the base station, mobility performance of userequipments (UEs) served by the base station, radio link failures at thebase station, velocity of UEs served by the base station, a transmitpower of the base station, and combinations thereof.
 21. The apparatusof claim 19, wherein the handover parameter updating component isfurther configured to update at least one of a hysteresis parameter, atime-to-trigger (TTT) parameter, a filter coefficient, an event offsetparameter, a cell individual offset (CIO) parameter, a reporting rangeparameter, a frequency offset parameter at the base station, andcombinations thereof.
 22. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:a handover signaling data determining component to determine thehandover signaling data at the base station based at least on one of ahandover preparation procedure, a handover resource allocationprocedure, a handover notification procedure, a path switch requestprocedure, a handover cancel procedure, a serial number (SN) statustransfer procedure, and combinations thereof.
 23. The apparatus of claim19, further comprising: a handover initiating component to initiate ahandover from a first base station to a second base station, wherein thebase station are different types of base stations or configured withdifferent frequencies.
 24. A non-transitory computer readable mediumstoring computer executable code for hybrid management of handovers at abase station in a self organizing network (SON), comprising: code fortransmitting, via a transmitting component at the base station, handoversignaling data from the base station to a network entity, wherein thebase station is one of a plurality of base stations transmittinghandover signaling data to the network entity, and wherein the networkentity is a mobility management entity or a serving gateway (SGW); codefor receiving, at the base station, feedback associated with one or morehandover parameters of the base station, wherein the feedback includes afirst indication and a second indication, the first indicationindicating whether the network entity is receiving cumulative handoversignaling data from the plurality of base stations at a first rate whichis higher or lower than a cumulative handover signaling capacity valueof the network entity, and the second indication indicating whether thebase station is generating the handover signaling data at a second ratewhich is higher or lower than a per-base station handover signalingcapacity value of the network entity that is calculated at least in partbased on a signaling load capacity of the network entity and a number ofbase stations in the SON supported by the network entity; and code forupdating the one or more handover parameters at the base station basedon the feedback received and local information available at the basestation.
 25. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the localinformation available at the base station is based on at least one of anamount of handover signaling data generated at the base station, ahandover rate at the base station, a number of users served at the basestation, a mobility performance of user equipments (UEs) served by thebase station, radio link failures at the base station, velocity of UEsserved by the base station, a transmit power of the base station, andcombinations thereof.
 26. The computer readable medium of claim 24,wherein the code for updating of the one or more handover parameters atthe base station includes: code for updating at least one of ahysteresis parameter, a time-to-trigger (TTT) parameter, a filtercoefficient, an event offset parameter, a cell individual offset (CIO)parameter, a reporting range parameter, a frequency offset parameter atthe base station, and combinations thereof.
 27. The computer readablemedium of claim 24, further comprising: code for determining thehandover signaling data at the base station based at least on one of ahandover preparation procedure, a handover resource allocationprocedure, a handover notification procedure, a path switch requestprocedure, a handover cancel procedure, a serial number (SN) statustransfer procedure, and combinations thereof.
 28. The computer readablemedium of claim 24, further comprising: code for initiating a handoverfrom a first base station on a first layer to a second base station on asecond layer to migrate a user equipment (UE) that is generatingsignaling at a third rate higher than a layer threshold value on thefirst layer, wherein the layer threshold value is determined at the basestation.
 29. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the firstand the second base stations are different types of base stations orconfigured with different frequencies.